To what extent can historians use documentary papyri from Egypt as a source material for the study of the region’s environmental history? Drawing from the work behind and the conclusions of the speaker’s latest monograph, Triangular Landscapes : Environment, Society and the State in the Nile Delta under Roman Rule (2014, OUP), this talk will reflect on this question, highlighting the value and pitfalls of such an approach, as well as its potential for multidisciplinary and diachronic studies.